Being Nice is Not Enough
Wednesday, January 3rd, 2024When Moses saw the Egyptian taskmaster beating the Jew, he looked around and did not see another man. This is to teach us to do the right thing even if it isn’t the nice thing. Share on Facebook
Listen To Your Elders
Sunday, December 31st, 2023The reason that the tribe of Levi was not enslaved was that Levi was still alive when Pharaoh succeeded in fooling the Jews. Levi, though saw through Pharaoh’s plot and told his descendants not to be fooled. Share on Facebook
Moses’s Last Speech
Tuesday, July 18th, 2023The Book of Deuteronomy is all about how to set up society once the Jews reach the Land of Israel. Moses’s main concern was that the Jews not copy the ways of the Egyptians or their society. Share on Facebook
A New Beginning
Thursday, March 23rd, 2023The first commandment that the Jewish people received was to declare the 1st of Nisan to be the beginning of the Jewish year. Rosh Hashanah is the day that the 1st man was created. The 1st of Nisan is when the Jewish people became a people. Share on Facebook
Idolatry is for Children
Wednesday, March 8th, 2023When Moses seems to be delayed coming back from Mt. Sinai the Jews build an idol. It seems strange until we remember that they were only recently freed from Egyptian bondage and the only society that they knew was Egyptian. Share on Facebook
Freedom Comes With a Price
Tuesday, January 31st, 2023The portion starts out with the Jews avoiding going directly to the Land of Israel lest they get into a war with the Philistines and run back to Egypt. It ends with the Jews fighting Amalek. They had to learn that there was no going back to Egypt. Share on Facebook
Getting Egypt Out of the Jews
Friday, January 27th, 2023More important that getting the Jews out of Egypt was to get Egyptian culture out of the Jews. God wanted the Jews to be a moral and ethical people and to reject the immorality of Egypt. Share on Facebook
The Reason for Freedom
Tuesday, January 17th, 2023Getting the Jews out of Egypt was easy job. The hard job was to make the Jews into a nation. Share on Facebook
Getting Egypt Out of the Jews
Wednesday, March 30th, 2022פרשת תזריע / כ”ז באדר ב’ תשפ”ב In Parshat HaHodesh the first thing that the Torah states is the Korban Pesach (The Pascal Sacrifice). This was to get the Jews to look at Egyptian society as not only foreign but as dangerous to their spiritual well being as a nation. Share on Facebook
About the Author: Shlomo Bar-Ayal is an Israeli-American, or an American-Israeli (I could never get that right) who is unabashedly pro-Israel, pro-US and a great guy.
He has an open mind to opinions that he agrees with.
Besides blogging on whatever he feels like blogging about on any given day he enjoys learning Talmud, davening, being the candyman in his synagogue, smoking his tobacco pipe, giving tours at the Grand Lodge of New York, being involved in Freemasonry, and partaking in an adult beverage every now and then